Ally, you're in for a treat with the films; they're hardly the apex of subtlety (and, where the third one is concerned, taste) but they're enormous fun and have a (dare we say it) innocence all but missing in the overly dark and heavy fantasy franchises which abound nowadays.

Ally, you're in for a treat with the films; they're hardly the apex of subtlety (and, where the third one is concerned, taste) but they're enormous fun and have a (dare we say it) innocence all but missing in the overly dark and heavy fantasy franchises which abound nowadays.

That's exactly what I'm counting on.

Neo is right. Pay no attention to the naysayers of Helmdom! I recently purchased the 4 film dvd set, and watched them all in two nights. Sassy, sexy, colorful fun! My favorite "Gal Friday": Lovey Kravezit playfully played by ultra-yummy Beverly Adams (aka ex-Mrs. Vidal Sassoon). She gives Miss Moneypenny a run for her money!

Gila plugging Flint's release on the live broadcast of the Tonight Show, 12/31/65. (Other guests that night, Criswell, Woody Allen, opera singer William Walker, and last minute appearance by Mimi Hines and Phil Ford coming straight from a performance of "Funny Girl")

Talk about an Impossible Mission – that was the daunting obstacle Sharon Tate triumphantly overcame in the final Matt Helm-er. Since sizzlingly sultry Stella Stevens had set such a Himalayan peak of slapstick humor in “The Silencers”, they essentially rewrote her role and recast it with Miss Tate, who heretofore had shown little aptitude for any comedic talent as opposed to her more worldly attributes.

However, she converted that obstacle into a memorable opportunity

by imbuing her Freya Carlson with a bumbling beauty and endearing essence

that not only held her own with her leading man

but even overshadowed and stole the scene away from her other co-stars, as well.

She looks absolutely GOR-geous in those swingin’ 60s get-ups, throws herself without reservation into the action sequences – even to the point of getting dunked in an outdoor waterway – without besmirching either her beauty or dignity (with no help - and even less credit - from director Phil Karlson in that some of his set-ups are so overtly sexist it’s practically impossible to ignore - unlike this one).

Had she not met her untimely cruel murderous demise, this film might’ve opened up an entirely new avenue for her to explore which would’ve ensured a longetivity to her career well above and beyond merely the sex kitten casting cul-de-sac.

I found it interesting that so many of the villainesses or 'henchwomen,' if you will, were foreign-born. Camilla Sparv, Nancy Kwan, Elke Sommer, Senta Berger, Daliah Lavi. With this in mind, it's too bad Joan Collins wasn't offered a role. I think she would have fit in well. Although perhaps being an Englishwoman wasn't 'foreign enough.'

It’s Definitely on the Top 100 Most Abysmal Ones Ever Made Department:

There’s scarcely even the pretense of anything other than a professional holiday where Dino’s concerned (especially financially, since he was savvy enuff to make himself a partner from the beginning – take that, Sean!)

Aside from a seemingly endless array of the most utterly tasteless visual sex (non) puns imaginable,

the only saving graces are his co-stars, starting with delectable Senta Berger

You’re not really sure which side she’s on as the film, uh, unwraps

but she’s sure as shootin’ not to be ignored.

And she DOES fill out those mini-skirts with panache, oui?

Alas, this character isn’t smitten by her charms (obvious or otherwise).

Which, in our next installment, brings us to the singular saving grace of the entire ignoble enterprise …

One comment she made during an interview she did when the film was released said something along the lines ala “if you can hold your own and stand out in a Matt Helm film opposite Dean Martin, you’re not doing too badly”.

She did far more than that; she was the only true appetizer in a mismash